French MPs push exit tax on crypto holdings above €800,000

Moving abroad from France could soon cost the richest holders of digital assets more, as lawmakers seek to bring Bitcoin and other crypto into a levy already paid by relocating equity investors.

On Thursday, the National Assembly’s finance committee, the cross-party panel that vets budget bills before the full lower house debates them, voted to extend France’s exit tax to crypto-assets from 1 January 2027.

The current levy taxes unrealised gains when people who have lived in France for at least six of the past ten years move abroad with shares and other securities cumulatively worth more than €800,000.

The amendment would apply the same threshold to a household’s crypto, including tokens on foreign platforms or in self-custody wallets that owners control directly.

As with shares, payment would be deferred for moves within the EU and to some other countries, and the tax is cancelled if the assets are kept for two to five years.

The amendment does not set a rate or mention social charges, which make up 18.6 points of the 31.4% levied on departing shareholders’ gains, leaving unclear what crypto holders would pay.

Its sponsors, Communist MP Nicolas Sansu and 16 left-wing colleagues, argue that crypto escapes a levy applied to securities of equal value, inviting tax avoidance.